” Commends Gov’Ododo for raising IGR.
ATABOR JULIUS LOKOJA
The stakeholders in the Open Government Partnership OGP have canvassed for a quarterly Government sponsored town hall meetings across the three senatorial Districts of kogi State.
The stakeholders made the suggestion in a Stallion Times Media organised Round table Discussion on Good Governance in Kogi as one of her activities in Year 3 of the 3 years Participatory Governance and Media Literacy project tagged “Get Involved, Dialogue and Improve (G-DRIP)” in Kano and Kogi states held on Thursday in Kogi.
The project which is in collaboration with the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism in collaboration with Media Project with support from the MacArthur Foundation.
The event was attended by civil society organizations, Faith based organizations, women groups, persons with disabilities, Kogi State Open Government Partnership (OGP),
The stakeholders who observed that Governor Usman Ododo had organised series of townhall meetings during the 2023 November Governorship elections, but, has failed to convene single town hall meeting, after one year in office.
” As a sign of its Transparency, Accountability and Participatory focus, Kogi State has now joined the league of States that have joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP) initiative. That with increased openness and transparency in management of resources, Kogi State, like other states, has witnessed increased investment and resource mobilization (increased IGR) from slightly over N6.5 Billion in 2016 to over N23.5 Billion in 2023.
“The State Government has consistently made open its Budget and other financial instruments since 2016 to date. Citizens engagement with government is still sub optimal due to low awareness on role of citizens in governance.
“Public sector infrastructures , such as pipe borne water, education, health, Agriculture to Citizen have been below expectation, and is often not targeting at the most vulnerable beneficiaries due to weak data management.
* This is a key factor in the increasing poverty and poor economy growth in the State.The limited meaningful inclusion of persons with Disability in governance is manifest with the poor implementation of the Disability Office Law which has led to the head of the Office being a person without Disability. This has negated the proposed gains from the 2019 state disability law.” The communique noted .
The stakeholders urged the Government to fast tract the convocation of Townhall meetings with community members on a quarterly basis across the three senatorial Districts of the state .
It added that the Ministry of Finance budget and Economic Planning, and the Ministry of Information and Communication and other relevant MDAs should be saddled with the coordination of the town hall meetings.
While encouraging the Government to expand services in water, roads, electricity and agricultural input provision to citizens, and should be given priority in the Budget formulation and implementation based on quality data, said Citizens and Civil Society Organizations must continue to engage with Government and the private sector for effective governance in the state.
” This can be achieved through effective capacity building and increased orientation. Governments and Citizens, led by Civil Society Organizations should continue to engage using Permanent Dialogue Mechanisms (PDM) such as the Kogi Accountability Platform (KAP) and the Open Government Partnership (OGP) for improved Accountability and Transparency in Governance
“There is need for improvement in the revenue generation capacity of the State from the current N23.5 Billion, to provide for sustainable service provision and insulation from economic shocks. The Amendment of the Disability Office Law to ensure that only qualified Persons with Disability heads the Office is crucial. This would give PWD an enhanced sense of belonging in the affairs that concern them”.
